By Isaac Galang, RJ Buenviaje, Tina Calderon
As the Aboitiz Group boldly strides forward to meet the ever-evolving needs of our business and stakeholders, our steadfast commitment to adaptability and innovation stands as a testament to our promise of driving change for a better world. Our GT2025 hinges on the dedication and teamwork of those fueling these initiatives, as the success of our efforts relies on the Group’s lifeblood—our A-People. Ensuring that everyone is aligned and empowered for this transformative journey is crucial to propelling the country’s first techglomerate forward.
In this special series, Aboitiz Eyes features our Culture Pillar Squads, reflecting on the milestones we’ve achieved together as A-People while overcoming every hurdle that came our way. After all, it takes a collective approach to transform today and shape a brighter future, and together, we’re making it happen.
TRANSFORMATION PILLARS
As the transformation takes shape, various success pillars were then identified to make sure that the evolution runs like a well-oiled machine. These pillars have their own focuses aligned with the Group’s mission, one of which is dedicated to transforming mindset, capabilities, and agility– the Culture Pillar.
The Culture Pillar aims to pave the way for a people-centric focus, making sure that everyone in the organization is onboard in this mission.
The Culture Pillar or the “Culture Tribe”, as the members call it, put importance in the aspect of transforming employees’ mindset, capabilities, and ways of working which are crucial in preparing them with the Group’s techglomerate aspirations. The tribe is headed by Union Bank’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Michelle Rubio, and she is joined by different team members across the Group with a focus on three different missions: Shared Mindset and Transformed Behavior, Techglomerate Capabilities, and Agile Innovation and Ways of Working.
SHARED MINDSET AND TRANSFORMED BEHAVIOR
The first squad focuses on shared mindset and transformed behaviors, which are crucial to drive change and signal the shift across the organization. It aims to transform the Aboitiz team leaders and members to be advocates of GT2025 by aligning it with a higher call of achieving sustainable and inclusive growth. This is powered by the understanding of a common transformation language, mindsets, behaviors, artifacts, and rituals.
While this is a tall order, the squad already made waves in the space for the past year. Here are some snapshots of what the group has accomplished over the past 12 months:
A+10 Behaviors and Values
The squad dedicated extensive efforts to align the Aboitiz Group’s A+10 Behaviors (behaviors that were identified and each team member must live in order to act and behave like a techglomerate) with the Group’s values. They also took the initiative to rearticulate these behaviors to supercharge them. Demonstrating the significance of this mission, they also went above and beyond by developing a tool to assess the profiles of the team leaders, roll out the assessment, conduct coaching sessions, and sustain these through interventions.
Leader-led cascades and dashboards
The squad developed a playbook designed for team leaders. This playbook serves as a catalyst for meaningful conversations within their teams, aiming to foster an understanding of their significant transformative purpose. It guides them in embracing and embodying the A+10 core behaviors, elevating awareness of the transformation to every team member. Team leaders, who are at the front of leading change, led the cascades in their respective SBUs and enjoined their team members to work together towards the techglomerate aspiration.
To measure progress, the squad also established an internal dashboard, providing visibility into culture metrics. This tool assists the tribe in monitoring the success of the ongoing cultural transformation. Moreover, they shared data models to streamline the process of capturing metrics across the entire group.
GT Storytelling
Stories play a pivotal role in driving change, offering powerful illustrations of how team leaders and members embody the desired behaviors and embrace the transformation.
A story-generation program was launched Group-wide to gather inspiring stories across the organization. The impact was further amplified through the GT Storytellers Leaders Caravan, a platform that recognized and featured storytellers who shared their transformation stories at the SuperDuperCon. These stories serve as proof that the transformation is coming to life!
Got a GT story to share? Submit yours by scanning the QR Code below!
What’s next?
The next steps for the Squad is to hold assessment coaching sessions to the leaders and focus on creating Group-wide interventions based on the A+10 results.
Watch out for our upcoming releases as we delve into the exciting milestones of our dedicated Squads focused on the Group’s Techglomerate Capabilities and Agile Ways of Working. Stay tuned for an adventure of insights and innovation!
